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Cameroon has its National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security

14 December 2017

On 16 November 2017 WILPF Cameroon proudly participated at the official publication of Cameroon’s National Action Plan (NAP) on UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325. WILPF Cameroon has been a key contributor to the process and now hopes that the implementation will substantively increase women’s participation in peace processes in Cameroon.

by Guy Dongmo Feugap, communicator of WILPF Cameroon

Members of WILPF Cameroon celebrated the launching of the NAP

Established officially on 31 January 2014, WILPF Cameroon made the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) its priority, with the mission to advocate for a national action plan (NAP), in order to implement the Women, Peace and Security Agenda according to the recommendations of that Resolution.

WILPF Cameroon’s first actions in this direction were the training of its members and other civil society leaders to ensure outreach and more effective advocacy. The first high-level discussion in Cameroon on the issue was held from 9 to 10 October 2014 in Yaoundé, during the “Regional workshop on women’s participation in conflict prevention and crisis management”, in partnership with the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family and UN Women. It was about mobilising all stakeholders in the process of developing a National Action Plan of UNSCR 1325 and advocating for its adoption by the Government of Cameroon. This workshop was followed by a retreat organised by UN Women in partnership with WILPF Cameroon, to consolidate the outcomes of the regional workshop. The organisation Servitas Cameroon, the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, the Ministry of Defence and UNHCR took part at the retreat.

In October 2014, the participation of WILPF Cameroon at the 14th anniversary of the UNSCR 1325 in New York, including a panel on Boko Haram, gave the opportunity to show the urgent need of this resolution in Cameroon. During this period, WILPF Cameroon conducted a survey in the East of Cameroon to find out the degree of knowledge and the level of implementation of UNSCR 1325. This was followed by the establishment of a Media/Civil Society consultation framework for effective implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Cameroon.

The calendar of activities to achieve the NAP was elaborated after WILPF Africa regional workshop on the participation of women in conflict prevention and crisis management. The workshop was organised in Yaoundé from 27 to 28 November 2015, by WILPF Cameroon with the support of Folke Bernadotte Akademy through WILPF Sweden and under the patronage of the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family.

The launch of the process of elaboration of UNSCR 1325 NAP in Cameroon took place on 15 November 2016. Key ministries, international organisations, embassies, and civil society organisations attended the launch. Prior to that, WILPF Cameroon was entrusted to conduct a baseline study at national level on the assessment of the level of knowledge of UNSCR 1325 and the impact of armed conflicts on women and girls in Cameroon, in order to draw priority areas of the NAP. The restitution workshop was held on 9 February 2017.The study was conducted under the overall coordination of the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, the technical supervision of UN Women and with the financial support of the United Office in Central Africa (UNOCA) and the Sweden Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA).

The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoua, and Annie Matundu, President of WILPF DRC, met after the launch of Cameroon’s NAP © Gilbert Magloire Marbin Bekale

As the implementation phase now starts, WILPF Cameroon has recently benefitted from the exchange of experiences and best practices during the recent WILPF African Regional meeting that took place in Kinshasa (DRC) on 2-3 December. This was an occasion to exchange knowledge and lessons learnt in the implementation of the NAP while leveraging on the advocacy experience of other WILPF Sections for carrying out successful strategies.

Download Cameroon’s UNSCR 1325 NAP (English)

Télécharger le PAN RCSNU 1325 du Cameroon (Français)

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Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

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Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

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WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

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